Sympathy
By Formerly Known As

Author's Note: A new chapter. Shocking, isn't it?

Chapter 6
Chit Chat, Redundantly

The white bat laughs as she wraps her arms around my waist. "Funny, Sonic. Real funny. But you know who I am!" she says.

"Uh, no," I reply. "I don't."

She flashes me a playful look and slaps my chest. "Don't tell me you forgot who I was!"

"Okay," I reply.

A slight silence descends on the bakery as the clerk pretends she isn't there. The white bat takes two steps back and stares me down. I do my best to meet her gaze. I watch as uncertainty flickers to life in her eyes. She's still holding my hands.

Finally, she steps in closer to me and taps my nose with one daintily nailed finger. "Don't kid with ME, blue boy," she says, still tapping my nose. "You know who I am."

I shake my head. "No. I don't."

She releases my hands and backs off again. She gives me a speculative look, her eyes narrowing slightly. "You…Really don't remember me, do you?" she says finally.

I sigh. "Didn't I just say that?"

"But…" Now she looks confused. "But how can you not--?"

I shrug. "There's a question I'd like an answer to as well."

She blinks her big aqua eyes in bafflement. Then, slowly, a sort of understanding sinks in. As if she put together a few things in her head. "So you don't remember me at all?"

This is getting ridiculously redundant. I sigh again, fold my arms and tap my foot. "I believe that's what I said, multiple times."

"Well it's definitely you, at any rate," she mutters, that speculative look back on her face as she watches my foot tapping impatiently.

What, did she think I was a robot or something?

She sighs then, unfolding her arms. "I'm sorry if I'm being so repetitious. It's just that this is a little hard for me to swallow."

And it's a picnic for me?

"I'm Rouge, by the way. Rouge the Bat."

Yay, a name. I'm so thrilled.

Actually, scratch the sarcastic comment, I AM thrilled. Names are good things. I would know.

My stomach takes that moment to make its empty presence known to the world with a very loud growl. I feel a faint blush crawling up my cheeks as Rouge smirks a little. She glances at the counter where the clerk is still practicing her skills of invisibility. "You want some breakfast?" asks Rouge.

I flash her a quick grin. "I'd love some."

***********

"So tell me what you do remember."

I glance up at Rouge sitting across from me at a small table in the little bakery. "Not much really. Actually, basically nothing I'd say."

"But you remember your name. Otherwise you wouldn't have answered me when I called you."

"Only because someone else called me that already."

"Someone else?"

I shrug and grab what is probably my fifth pastry. Rouge watches me in amusement. I hesitate. "You want one?" I ask lamely.

Rouge smiles and shakes her head. "I don't eat much in the morning. I just come to this bakery because the coffee is to die for," she says, tipping her cup towards me a bit.

I grimace.

Rouge looks at me questioningly, then grins. "That's right! You don't like coffee, do you? Shadow told me that."

I frown. "Shadow…" I mutter, before taking a big bite of my pastry.

Rouge leans forward eagerly. "Do you remember him?"

I shake my head.

Rouge looks a little disappointed. "Well, does the name ring any bells or anything?"

I shake my head again. After swallowing my bite of pastry I reply, "Doesn't sound familiar at all. It's just not something I think would be a very common name."

Rouge smirks a bit. "Shadow isn't a very common person."

I snort. "Yeah, well, anyway…"

Rouge nods, back to business. "So what's the first thing you remember."

I hesitate. For some reason, I'm not sure I want to tell her anything. It's not that I don't trust her…it's just that I really don't trust her.

"Waking up," I state finally.

"Waking up?"

"Yes. Waking up."

"Where at?"

I hesitate again, looking for the right words. "A…a jungle, I think."

"A jungle?"

"Yeah, well, it was green and lush and that was the word I came up with for it."

"So then what?"

Another hesitation. My memory, though in existence at that point in the game, wasn't really up to par.

"Then I came here."

"You came here?"

"Do you have to repeat EVERYTHING I say?" I snap. If things weren't redundant before…

"Sorry," she says, no hint of sincerity in her voice. "I just want to make sure I'm getting all this right."

I snort. She continues talking. "So…You woke up in a jungle…and then came here…How did you come here, Sonic? I mean, did you walk, did you hop a train, did you…" Hesitation. "Did you find a different mode of transportation?"

Not what she was originally planning to say. I shrug. "I walked."

Rouge blinked. "It's an awfully long walk here, Sonic, even from the nearest jungles."

"And I was going to do what else with my time? I didn't remember anything. I was just walking randomly."

Her eyes narrow, as if she didn't quite believe me. Fine, I don't care. It's the truth. I think.

"Okay. So you walked here. Then what hap—" She was cut off as she suddenly began to beep. I felt a surge of confusion, then realized, as she pulled back the sleeve of her jacket, that it was her watch that was beeping persistently at her.

She looked at it for a while as though reading it, then cursed. She looked up at me, sincere apology in her eyes this time. "I'm really sorry, Sonic, but I have to get going." A mournful sigh. "I've just got no choice in this."

Rouge gets up to go and I remain where I am, since all the pastries have yet to be properly devoured. She heads for the door but turns before she goes.

After a moment of hesitation, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a little white rectangle of paper. She holds it out to me.

"It's my business card, actually." She tells me as I hesitate to take it. "But it's got my address and my cell phone number on it, so if you need to contact me…"

I hesitate again, then take it. I look it over quickly, before stashing it in a pocket of the coat. I look back up at her when I realize she hasn't left yet.

Rouge is staring down at me, her big aqua eyes full of worry and something I can't quite place. "If you need me for anything, Sonic, a place to stay, some money, anything…just contact me. I'll…I'll be around."

Another flicker of hesitation in her eyes, then she bends down quickly and plants a soft kiss on my right ear. She turns and hurries off immediately, a slight blush just visible under her white fur.

I watch her go, then turn to back to the table. I've still got a lot of pastries to go through.
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Author's Note: Yes, Shadow. Because I said so.